Method of making and attaching tongue-piece closures.



W. N. HORNE. METHOIS OF MAKING AND ATTAGHING TONGUE PIECE GLOSURES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1913.

57/77/666 6 Inventor.-

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Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM N. HORNE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF MAKING AND ATTACHING TONGUE-PIECE .CLOSURES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM N. HORNE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Methods of Making and Attaching Tongue-Piece Closures, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to the method of making and attaching tongue piece closures.

In order that the principle of the invention may be readily understood, I shall set forth the best method known to me.

I have disclosed in the accompanying drawing one embodiment of a tongue piece closure made in accordance with my method.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of a shoe, the tongue piece closure whereof is constructed in accordance with my invention, the shoe being open. Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but representing the shoe closed; Fig. 3 is a plan representing the blank from which the tongue piece closure is to be formed and representing the first step in the production of the said closure; and Figs. 4 and 5 represent the succeeding steps in the production thereof.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have represented a shoe of any suitable construction but preferably of the so-called Blucher type having an upper and wings or flaps 2, 2, adapted to be secured together in any suitable manner as by means of a lacing 3 and eyelets 4:. Shoes and particularly high, laced shoes have long been provided with so-called bellows tongues or gussets constituting a closure for the shoe front. These tongues or gussets have heretofore been made in bellows form wholly, or in bellows form part way up only and then have been cut down part way from the top along converging lines at each edge of the tongue so as to remove twp triangular or other shaped pieces, the side strips thus formed and separated from the tongue, serving as stays for the eyelets. This process has been exceedingly wasteful and expensive inasmuch as all the material cut out at each side from between the lateral edge of the tongue proper and the adjacent side strip cannot be used in the production of the bellows tongue and constitutes waste. The purpose of my invention is to avoid Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

Application filed Ju1y3, 1913. Serial No. 777,195.

this waste which, owing to the prevailing high price of leather, is avery serious item in shoe manufacturing. 1

Referring first to Fig. "3, I have therein represented a blank 5 which may be cut from any suitable sheet of material and is preferably composed of leather. This blank is suitably shaped along its lower'edge 6 to be secured by sewing or otherwise to the shoe upper 1 between the side flaps 2. The blank may becut into the form shown in Fig. 3 in any suitable manner so as to approximate the general contour 'of the tongue but of a width equaling the combined width of the tongue proper and the side strips. In Fig. 5 I have represented theblank as having from the base upward a somewhat oval form but having the upper portion out awav between the edges 7, 7, which are joined by a curved or other suit-ably formed line constituting the upper end of the shoe tongue proper. The formation of the blank shown in Fig. 3 constitutes the first step of the process. In Fig. 4: I have shown the same blank but have represented the same as slitted along suitable lines 9, 9 herein represented as curved and which constitute and determine the lateral edges of the tongue. The slits are continued downward to some suitable point such as is indicated at 10, 10 and if desired a slight amount of material may be here removed as indicated at 11, 11. The material between each line or cut 9 and each adjacent lateral edge 12 of the blank constitutes the side strip which is to be sewed or otherwise secured in the shoe and serve as stays for the eyelets 4. It will be observed that there is no material whatever removed from between the lateral edges of the tongue and the side strips, unless a slight amount of material be cut out as indicated at 11.

After the blank has been slitted as described along the lines 9, 9, thus forming the side strips 18, 13, the latter are then laterally deflected as indicated in Fig. 5 so as to separate them from the tongue proper 14: and permit each part to assume its proper place in the completed shoe. I preferably cut out a small portion of the leather or material of the blank as indicated at 11, 11 because I am thus enabled better to deflect the side strips 13, 13 as indicated in Fig. 5 and avoid the danger of the material becoming torn or ruptured at the lower termination of the slits 9. The shape of the laterally deflected side strips 13 is such that they will lie smoothly along the inner edges of the wings 22 as indicated in Fig. 1, and the width of the tongue 14: may be such that the front of the shoe is substantially wholly closed thereby. It is evident that the shape of the tongue may be varied within the scope of my invention.

It will, of course, be understood that within the scope of my invention the slits 9 may be formed in the blank, thus defining the inner edges of the side strips and the lateral edges of the tongue, and that thereafter the material may be cut along the lines 12 thus forming the outer edges of the strips, this forming a mere reversal of the previously described order of the steps of the process. Furthermore, I may or may not, as desired, remove material at the points 11, thatis at the base of the tongue although preferably I prefer to do this. It will be observed that in that form of the invention shown in Fig. l, the blank is longitudinally slitted along lines spaced apart the width of the tongue throughout the major portion of the length of said slits.

It will be observed, viewing Fig. 4, that the tongue piece closure consists of a tongue and side strips united at their lower ends but slitted apart along their adjacent lateral edges, the lateral edges of the side strips being capable of being positioned, without distortion, in contact with the lateral edges of the tongue throughout substantially the entire length of said strips, and throughout the entire length, if no material be cut out at the points 11.

It will'be understood that when the material constituting the side strips is laterally deflected but retained in the plane of the tongue 14: that a slight puckering occurs at or adjacent the lower ends of said strips or at other points. This,-however, is unobjectionable and disappears when the strips are secured in position in the shoe.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that there is no waste of ma terial in the practice of my process and in the production of the article and that the ing to a shoe a tongue piece closure whichconsists in preparing a blank having a width equaling the combined width of the" tongue and side strips, slitting said blank longitudinally along lines spaced apart the width of the tongue throughout the major portion of the length of said slits,

thereby to produce the lateral edges of the tongue and the inner edges of the side strips, and in laterally deflecting said side strips and attaching them to the shoe flaps.

2. That method of producing a tongue piece closure which comprises the steps of preparing a blank having a width equaling the combined width of the tongue and side strips, and slitting said blank longitudinally along two lines spaced apart the width of the tongue throughout the major portion of the length of said slits, thereby to produce the lateral edges of the tongue and the inner edges of the side strips without waste of material.

3. The process of producing a blank having a tongue-piece and side strips integral therewith, comprising the step of separating the side strips from the tongue-piece by cutting along lines spaced apart the width of the tongue, throughout the major port-ion of the length of said slits, thereby to produce the lateral edges of the tongue and the inner edges of the side strips.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM N. HORNE.

Witnesses:

ROBERT H. KAMuLnR, F. IRENE CHANDLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

, Washington, I). 0. 

